


Zer0's Adventure

by Waywocket



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Adventure, Dinosaurs, Trouble Making
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2020-09-26 03:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywocket/pseuds/Waywocket
Summary: Zer0 is awake and excited, but he doesn't know why. So he's on the hunt!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I will probably come back to this at some point and add a second chapter. But for now we're going to call it good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished it!

Zer0 was not supposed to be down in the labs. And he was definitely not supposed to go through any blue matter portals that had accidentally been left open. But when did he worry about what he was supposed to do?

Everyone had either gone home or back to their rooms for the night. Even the other bots had powered down, leaving him to his own devices while he was too excited to sleep.

He wasn't sure what he was excited about, but it must be something great if it was keeping him up. That's why he was searching for it down in the labs. 

It hasn't been in the library, he had checked behind every book, twice. And the rooms that he found behind some of them. They were exciting! But they weren't what he was excited about.

After that, he looked in the kitchen. Not behind the china, or the cupboard when it fell over. Nothing in the fridge was it either. Though he had fun checking in all the eggs. He had been particularly fond of the sploot sound they made when they hit the ground.

There were almost countless rooms in the manor, except he was a robot so he could remember there was five hundred and twenty-two, sometimes. But none of them seemed right as he walked the halls. Obviously, that meant whatever he was excited about was in the labs.

And he found it. The portal they left was pretty small, he had to crouch down to get through. For as small as the portal was, he was surprised to see just how big everything was when he came out the other side.

Trees were so tall he had to crane his head all the way back to see them all. Even most of the plants were taller than him. Taller than The Spine!

Briefly, he was reminded of how small he felt while facing off against the copper elephants, but he quickly stopped thinking about it. He may have been small, but he had been enough.

Making sure the portal behind him was open he started to walk around. Finding a giant world was definitely what he had been excited about. What could be better?

Zer0 kept walking and looking around in awe at all the plant life as it nearly engulfed him. Eventually, he realized what was missing. All he’d seen were plants. Not a bird or a toad. Not even a bug. In such a big world they should have been easy to find. They had to be somewhere.

On a new mission now, Zer0 carefully crept through the ferns and flowers. He was hardly a robot made for stealth, but taking slow and measured steps, he only clanked a little.

It wasn't long until he started to grow concerned. It was still so quiet, only the sound of his boiler to keep him company. And he wasn't so sure anymore where the portal was.

Stopping to look around, he tried to retrace his steps and find his way back home. Only, it didn’t work.

Zer0 was pretty sure he would have noticed a giant egg if he had walked by it before. But there it was almost as big as he was.

Walking over to it he ran his hand over the thick shell. Knocking on it he was surprised at how hard it was. While he was contemplating what would lay an egg this big the ground started to tremble.

At first, Zer0 thought it was just another earthquake and held the egg still so it wouldn't tip over. It didn't take him long to realize it wasn't a normal earthquake. As the trees trembled they started to part.

His optics went wide and he grabbed the egg tightly and ran. Screaming as loud as his voicebox would allow he cut through the brush. Cradling the egg he tried to keep his distance from, whatever was chasing them.

Daring to look back he saw they were getting closer. He saw a flat stout head with a beak. Behind them, a large tail swung from side to side with a ball at the end? 

Screaming again he tried to run faster. He'd never seen anything like that!

His joints were getting stiff and the puffs of steam were getting smaller and smaller by the second as his boiler was starting to run dry. But he had to keep going. If he stopped they would crush him and the egg!

Just as his vision was starting to flicker out he saw the portal come into view. Cheering he pushed himself on. The thin wisps of steam turned into plumes of white smoke as he forced himself forward.

Barely stumbling forward he pushed himself and the egg through the portal. The trembling stopped and they snorted in agitation on the other side. He hardly had time to be proud of himself for saving the egg before his body forced him to power down to cool off and save his systems. 

Things would be even more interesting when he woke up again. 


	2. The Ankylosaurus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, we knew it couldn't end there.

In the early hours of the morning Matter Master David popped into his lab. Now, finding a robot laying down face first in his lab wasn’t a terribly strange occurrence. Zer0 and Rabbit were known for giving up and powering down wherever they felt like it. And he probably wouldn’t have thought twice about the robot lying on his floor. Only he wasn’t the only thing David noticed.

He had left a portal open last night. Shrunk it instead of closing it all the way. Was that a firing offense? He was pretty sure it was. Especially when there was a Zer0 and the biggest egg he had ever seen laid in front of it.

First thing first, David finally shut the portal properly, making a note of settings so he could put the egg back later, once he found a trolley or a wheelbarrow. For now, he struggled with putting it under a warm light to keep it safe.

Zer0 proved to be a real challenge. Trying to wake Zer0 up turned into a no go as he’d run himself dry and overheated. Sitting on the floor it would take David hours to replace all the burnt pieces in his chassis and fill him back up with water.

Wiping his hands clean, David grinned when he was finally done. All he had to do was power the bot up and send him on his way. Everything was going smoothly so far!

“Come on, Zer0. Nap times over,” he teased as he got the robot going again.

With a few clicking gears and a wisp of steam, Zer0 opened his eyes and panicked. Jumping to his feet the bronze bot looked around frantically before he remembered where he was. As he came back to himself, he saw David standing nearby with his arms crossed and looking less than amused.

“Zer0, what in blazes did you think you were doing? You know better than to go poking around blue matter portals! What if it had closed and you couldn’t get back? Or what if it reacted poorly to your core?”

Shrinking in on himself Zero looked down and shuffled his feet. “Yeah, but,” looking up sheepishly he fumbled with his hands. “It looked like fun!”

The matter master pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed like a slow puncture. It was his fault. He was the one who left the portal open all night, it wasn’t really fair to be mad at Zer0 when he was just as at fault. 

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that bad. He’d have to figure out the egg, but Zer0 was fine and nothing else had happened.

“Just go on and do, I don’t know. Just try to stay out of the way today. We’ve got a lot of clean up.” Pacing the room he started to prep the egg to go back. “Someone seemed to have thought pulling all the bookshelves over was a good way to spend the night. And annihilated the kitchen. Annie’s china cupboard was broken to bits and most of the fridge and cupboards were strewn across the room. We just did the shopping!” He sighed and closed his eyes. They would be cleaning that for the rest of the day at least. Not to mention counseling Annie.

Listening to the technician he frowned and guiltily looked to the floor, for about two seconds. “Okay, David! I’m gonna take my new friend and go!”

“What?” David looked around the room again, trying to see if he had missed something or someone. The only other thing in the room was the large egg. He raised a brow and looked at Zer0. “You mean the egg?”

The brass bot nodded with a grin as he started over to where it was being kept warm.

“Oh no, no, no. Zer0. That egg is staying here. I need to put it back where you found it.”

He stopped just short of the egg and pouted at David. That wasn’t fair! He barely had any time with his new friend and now he was going to take him away. “Wha!? But I gotta! I saved him from a big ol’ monster that was chasing us last night! I gotta look after him.”

Blinking, he looked at Zer0 in disbelief. That was the biggest of monkey wrenches, right smack in the center of the gears. “Zer0! That was probably the mother!” Sighing he laid his head in his hands. Now, what was he going to do?

That made Zer0 pause as he looked between David and the egg. Without much thought at all, he grabbed the egg and took off out of the labs.

“Zer0!” David hurried to the door and yelled after him, but there was no way he could catch up with the bot. Laying his face in his hands, David heaved a suffering sigh. So much for keeping any of this a secret.

Heading down the hall he sent out a message to the others to keep an eye out for Zer0 and his egg. It was going to be a long day, worse still when his phone wouldn’t stop chiming.

While the rest of the manor was on a hunt for the wayward bot, Zer0 was on a hunt of his very own. Tucked away in one of the libraries, one that had already been set to rights, Zer0 had carefully balanced the egg on a study desk and watched it.

“Eggs get sat on to keep warm, right?” He looked down at himself and patted his boiler with a laugh. “But I’m a robot. I might break you! Can’t have that, so I have to do something else.”

Pacing around the room he put a hand under his elbow and tapped his temple. “Think think think,” he mumbled as he paced tight circles in front of his new eggy friend.

“I know!” Giggling excitedly, Zer0 rushed to the sitting area of the library and grabbed the throw pillows and blankets. “This can help!” 

Tucking the pillows under and around the egg, he draped the blankets over next. They didn’t even cover the top half of the egg.

Zer0 tapped his foot and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think this is gonna be warm enough for ya, buddy.” The egg was bigger than he thought, or the blankets were smaller. Holding his hands out to his friend, he grinned. “Hold on, I got an idea! Stay here, buddy! I’ll be right back with more, even bigger, blankets! Then you’ll be nice and warm. You’ll see.” With that, he took off down the hall to raid every linen closet and bed he could find.

By all rights, it didn't make sense. But by all rights, it made perfect sense. Sitting on the desk of an old dusty library, and wrapped in blankets, was the largest egg Six had ever seen.

He’d gone looking for Zer0 when he got the message. When David had said Zer0 was running around with an egg, he had expected an egg he’d gotten from the kitchen. An egg as tall as him was not something the lanky man was prepared to deal with. And to top it all off, it was starting to shake.

There was no way he was going to be able to carry the monster of an egg back to the labs. But he had to do something fast! “Come on, Petes. Think! You’re a smart man, you can figure this out.” Pacing around the room he was trying not to panic while he thought of a solution. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to figure it out.

While he paced, he heard the first crack in the shell. “Oh no! Oh no no no!” This was not happening! Without thinking, he took off like a shot down the hall and grabbed the first person that he found.

“Spine! Spine, help!” Dragging the bot back down the hall, he nearly shoved him into the room and showed him the egg, the crack was getting worse. “I don’t know what to do!”

Tilting his head slightly, Spine watched the egg as whatever was inside was trying to break free. “Um, congratulations? I didn’t think humans laid eggs.”

“SPINE! Not helpful!” Huffed the scientist. Crossing his arms across his chest he watched the egg through his mask. At this rate, it was going to be free shortly.

“I’m sorry Six. I don’t know how to help you, I’ve never had kids.” Spine gave him a cheeky grin as he watched alongside him. 

While the two tried to figure out what to do about the hatching, whatever it was, Zer0 came back. His arms were loaded with blankets, and a few rugs, that drug on the ground as he walked.

Seeing his new friend cracked, the brass bot dropped his load and gasped, covering his mouth. “Why’d you guys break my egg?!” He shouted as he ran over to it. Worrying over the shell, he tried to hold the pieces in place.

“Um, Zer0? It’s not broken, it’s hatching,” corrected The Spine as the shell started to fall away.

Zer0 gasped again, this time with glee. Clapping his hands together in front of his chest, he watched the egg more carefully now. “I’m gonna be a momma!”

There was nothing else to do but watch. Piece by piece, the egg fell away. Zer0 helped it along and a flat stout head emerged with a soft beak.

When it was finally free Six curled a finger under his chin and seemed to look curious. “I suppose with the size of it, I should have expected a dinosaur.”

“An ankylosaurus, to be exact,” added Spine, after a quick search. “But that doesn’t really help us. What are we going to do with it now?”

Zer0 cooed over the hatchling and lifted it out of what was left of the shell. Cradling it carefully, he giggled and baby talked to them. “Aren’t you just the cutest, Yes you are. Oh yes, you are!”

“Zer0, you can’t keep it. It has a mother,” Six tried to remind the brass bot. Though now he was worried about what was going to happen. Would the mother take them back, now that they had hatched?

“Yeah, I’m his momma! Right, Ducky?” He cooed and tried to tickle their chin. They were very wiggly.

The Spine sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, Zer0. A real mother.”

“Nu-uh!” Panicking, he looked between the two and held Ducky closer. Taking a breath he did the only thing he could think of.

Zer0 ran between the two and rushed out into the hall. He ran away with the ankylosaurus.


End file.
